Who here has bunk beds for your twins?

Our boys are 3 years old, and are still in their cribs. They are quite comfortable in them, and they do not try to climb out. But they are 3 years old, and soon we will need to buy a new bedroom set for them.

We do not have a big home, so we are considering beds that can turn into bunk beds later on. Does anyone here have bunk beds? If so, when did you allow your children to sleep in them as bunk beds? I've heard that they should not be used as bunk beds until they are 6 years old. Also, for those of you that own them, do your children actually like them? What are the pros and cons? Do they fight about who will sleep on the top? Do you recommend them?

I had also heard that you should have taller ceilings when considering bunk beds, because the one at the top won't have too much room to sit up. We have standard 8 feet tall ceilings. Would we have a problem with that?

Thanks!

 

Our boys are 3 years old, and are still in their cribs. They are quite comfortable in them, and they do not try to climb out. But they are 3 years old, and soon we will need to buy a new bedroom set for them.

We do not have a big home, so we are considering beds that can turn into bunk beds later on. Does anyone here have bunk beds? If so, when did you allow your children to sleep in them as bunk beds? I've heard that they should not be used as bunk beds until they are 6 years old. Also, for those of you that own them, do your children actually like them? What are the pros and cons? Do they fight about who will sleep on the top? Do you recommend them?

I had also heard that you should have taller ceilings when considering bunk beds, because the one at the top won't have too much room to sit up. We have standard 8 feet tall ceilings. Would we have a problem with that?

Thanks!

 

Tula...we had bunkbeds for the boys. Here is a picture of it. First, we just had the bottom bed and the trundle that's under it so one slept on the trundle and the other in the bed. Then, one day at the thrift store, we found the other bed (without the mattress) for only $25!! The rails slide into the headboard and the footboard which is a WONDERFUL thing!! Both of the beds are the top bunk of a set of bunkbeds...we had to drill a hole in the top of the posts of the bottom bed and we just put dowels in to connect the two. I actually liked it this way b/c then the top bed wasn't so high up...it was at my eye level and I'm 5'7". Of course, it didn't leave a heck of a lot of room inbetween the two beds but the boys didn't ever really play in their beds. When we moved here to Kansas (2 months ago) I sold the bed to a friend with two little boys and they had a really small room as well. I had her bring the boys over and check out the bed to make sure it was what they wanted before she bought it. She liked the idea that it wasn't as high as a normal bunkbed since it was going to be their first bunkbed and her boys are 3yrs & 5yrs. You DEF want to make sure that you have a good rail to put up on the top bunk, when my sister and I were little, I pulled her down off the top bunk on more than one occassion. The boys usually took turns sleeping on the top bunk until Michael decided that he was scared to sleep on the top for some reason.

 

We have bunk beds. It is working very well for us. My girls just turned 6 we started using them this year at age 5. My girls are fraternal twins and one (Kierstan) is slightly more mature than than the other girl (Emily). So, I said the top bed is for K. I haven't had any fighting, but I have also made K share. I told E she could sleep in the top bunk on the wknd. I told K she could that E was sleeping up top and she (K) had a choice, she could sleep in E's bed or up top w/ E. Our ceilings are not extra high they are a normal height.

All in all I recomend them. No cons accept it is slightly harder to make up the beds.

 

We got the girls bunk beds when they were 6 years old. Our ceilings are not high, just the standard height whatever that is! They chose who got to sleep on top (Katie) and so far they've never traded. The only thing I don't like about them is making up that top bunk. It is very difficult getting the sheets on . There is no easy way to do it, that I can figure out. Ours can become twin beds later, but their room is pretty small (hence the bunk beds ) so I don't know that we'll ever use them that way at this point.

 

We bought twin beds that will switch to bunks later. My oldest son has a loft bed, and it is a tight squeeze between the top of it and the ceiling. I agree, putting sheets on that thing is a BEAR! I procrastinate as long as possible. IMO, it's the worst housekeeping job I have right now.

 

My boys have bunk beds also. We didn't actually bunk them until they were about in 3rd grade, though. I love the space it saves in their room, and the boys seem to really like them too. Brian sleeps on the top bunk, Craig on the bottom. There is no arguing over who got which bunk either since Craig fell off their older brother's top bunk when he was 7 and broke his wrist! (Not while sleeping -- he was supposed to be sleeping, but was leaning over to goof around with Brian and fell off.) Anyway, Craig is happy now on the bottom bunk. The only true drawback is changing the sheets on the top bunk. Pain in the b-u-t-t.

 

When I would change the sheets, I'd take the mattress down and lean it up against the bed and put the sheet on it that way. Then, just slide it back up there. Although...I don't think the mattress we had on the top bunk was a regular mattress, it was pretty light so it was easier to take down.

 

Girls, sorry for the late reply. I hadn't been able to log on earlier.

Thank you for all the wonderful insight!!

Gosh, I was so pro-bunk bed, and now I have to say I'm not too sure... I didn't even think about how to make the bed at the top!! That is a HUGE negative for me. Here I was just thinking about their safety, sharing, the ceiling, and I had not even thought about making the bed...

I saw some cute trundle beds at Costco. One was adorable, but too big for their room (in a shape of a boat), and the other was a nice blue bed. I'm not into blue as a furniture piece, but it's a nice piece.

I'm wondering, if we get a trundle bed, instead of a bunk bed, would we be saving space, by not requiring as much additional storage in their room (extra dressers?)

Thanks again for your advice!

 

Changing the sheets is a pain in the patootie but not enough to overcome the ease and spaciousness of having them. By the time you are ready for them to use them as bunk beds they be able to help. My girls are 6 now and I have K get on top and help put on the sheet. (E. can not do it she goes to OT for help w/ her fine motor skills though.) Sometimes she can do it by herself sometimes I help. I lay the sheet out how it goes on the bed and she climbs up on her hands & knees and pulls the back corners of the sheet on, while I get the outside corner. Then we do it all over again on the other end.

 

quote:
Changing the sheets is a pain in the patootie but not enough to overcome the ease and spaciousness of having them.
I have to agree with this as well. We had company over the holidays. My SIL and MIL were going to be sleeping in B&C's room so my husband unbunked the beds. I could hardly stand it until the beds were put back together in bunk formation! It seemed so cluttered in their room after having all that space.

Side note: DH and Sean finally bunked the beds again this past weekend. The next morning, AFTER Brian had already slept in the top bunk one night, I walked into their room to make beds and noticed that DH did not put the railing back on the bed!! Now I know they are 12, but Brian is used to having that railing there. I called DH at work to tell him that he'd forgotten the railing and he told me he knew. Brian had told him after going to bed that the railing wasn't up and asked DH what would happen if he fell off. DH's reply Oh, you'd probably just break an arm or something!! I could not believe he let him sleep in that bunk knowing the railing was not up. And of course, no one said anything to me about it. I can't believe I didn't notice it when I peeked in their room before going to bed myself. At least he didn't fall off! The next night I made him sleep on the floor. DH put the railing back up the next day. *sigh*

 

I'd thought about taking off the top mattress to re-make it, but NO, I think I'd injure my back ! If it didn't have the side railing on then it'd be easier. I don't know how you do it, Krystal??? . You must have some strong arm muscles .

We went the trundle bed route with both my older dd's. They didn't share a room at the time (this was before the twins came along), I just loved the daybed look and we bought cheap mattresses for the trundles. It was mainly for sleep-over friend purposes, not a daily use. A trundle bed would save room, as a bunk bed does; you'd have to keep the entire area in front of the bed clear, obviously, before popping it out every night. Definitely easier to make .

 

The boys's bunkbed actually started out as a twin with a trundle under it. Go check out that picture that I posted...you should be able to see the trundle is still under there although without the mattress in the pic. We used the trundle mattress as the mattress for the top bunk so it was a really lightweight foam mattress really so it was pretty easy to take down and change the sheet. I really hated having to sell it before we moved but I had to. Once we got the second bed and made them into bunkbeds, they put their trains on the trundle since there was no mattress there.